Accumulating evidence has shown that the urokinase plasminogen activator system might be upregulated in many types of malignancies, including prostate cancer. Previous studies have found&nbsp; an&nbsp; association&nbsp; between&nbsp; the&nbsp; soluble&nbsp; form&nbsp; of&nbsp; the&nbsp; urokinase &nbsp;plasminogen&nbsp; receptor, abbreviated as suPAR,&nbsp; and the&nbsp; development and&nbsp; progression of prostate cancer. Furthermore, it has been proposed that the quantification of suPAR in serum might serve as a useful adjunct to current conventional diagnostic tools.

The serum samples obtained in the present thesis are stored at the Regional Research Biobank of Central Norway and are accessible for future studies.&nbsp; By&nbsp; including&nbsp;&nbsp; samples&nbsp; from&nbsp; the HUNT&nbsp; research&nbsp; biobank,&nbsp; it&nbsp; might&nbsp; be&nbsp; achievable&nbsp; to&nbsp; obtain&nbsp; a&nbsp; larger&nbsp; cohort&nbsp; of&nbsp; serum&nbsp; samples and further investigate the role of suPAR as a predictor of prostate cancer progression.&nbsp;